The BP Oil spill is a tragedy of epic proportions and, according to a variety of credible sources, the tragedy was a result of known and preventable failures by BP. There is also a growing body of evidence, again from credible sources, reporting that the cleanup efforts have been delayed and solutions denied for a variety of political considerations and just plain old incompetence….(See Wall Street Journal article here.)
Bottom line is regulations should have been in place and enforced to prevent it from happening, BIG OIL should have been required to practice for such failures and equipment should have been in place to clean up the damage….but none of this was done. Skimming ships in use and available all around the world have been senselessly denied access to the Gulf of Mexico due to archaic law, the Jones Act, that Obama and the feds have refused to waive.
So what’s this got to do with foreclosures? Well, there is more than enough evidence out there that widespread fraud and fundamental breakdowns created the mortgage madness that led to the surge in new mortgages in 200-2006. These are the mortgages that have brought us to the Great Foreclosure Crisis we now find ourselves in. The same frauds and breakdown in fundamental systems has now infected our court systems but many of our elected circuit court judges refuse to recognize the long-term consequences of allowing this unprecedented infection of fraud and abuse of their courts to continue. Circuit court judges must stop and recognize that they cannot allow fraud and abuse of court rules and laws to continue unchecked.
Foreclosure defense attorneys and advocates need to continue to document the fraud and abuses that are occurring in courthouses all across the country…I particularly applaud the websites Foreclosure Hamlet and 4ClosureFraud.com for the good work they’re doing. We must all keep shining bright spotlights on the frauds and abuses being perpetrated by the foreclosure mills….keep looking out for examples of Florida Default Law and the Law Offices of David J. Stern (wait strike that, I mean David J. Stern Enterprises and it’s blank check holding company, Chardan 2008)
While we’re all focusing on the frankly small number of homes that are making it to sales on the courthouse steps there are a variety of very troubling issues that we all need to be focusing on:
Exparte Substitutions of Party Plaintiff- The rules that permit a party to be substituted are being abused and employed to perpetuate dramatic frauds on the court…fight them every time you see them.
Assignments of Bid- After final judgment, the judgment is “assigned” to another party…there are just too many of these occurring. The numbers suggest something improper is occuring.
Certificates of Title- We all need to watch to see if the name the Certificate of Title is being issued to is in the name of the Plaintiff. I have the sense that these are being “slipped” in.
Failure of Capacity- There are far too many cases being pursued by Plaintiffs that either lost the capacity or authority to pursue somewhere along the way or who never had it from the outset of litigation.
Cases that Stall or Die- I am in the middle of researching the surprisingly high number of foreclosure cases that were filed in 2008 and 2009 that were filed and that just did not proceed. Many of these cases were not defended in any way. Judges and some parties believe that the homeowners are in modification, but in the majority of cases I’ve found, no modification or deal is in place. The homeowner continues to live in the home with no payment and no communication from any debt collector, whether phantom or real. Did the law firm or party that filed the case ever have any business filing that case?
Our elected circuit court judges need to be carefully considering all of this and especially the new senior judges that are presiding over Rocket Dockets. We just cannot sit aside and allow all this to continue. I have faith that our senior judges, who are not under the same improper pressures as our elected judges, will quickly become incensed by the practices we see every day and that they will push back against what they see. Having said that, it is our job to educate them. Let’s make sure elected judges and senior judges are reminded that a fundamental and key element of our system of government is separation of powers. They should not continue to be pressured or bullied by the legislative branch to throw away laws, ethics and rules in a mad rush to plow through this crisis.
JUDGES- PUSH BACK AGAINST THIS MADNESS!
